Generation Wars

Right now, in this Galaxy,

How can you tackle ageism? In my humble opinion, this is what this generation debate is really about. So how do I tackle an issue like ageism in an article and remain unbiased all the way through? Easy. I will be myself, authentic, geeky and movie centric. I will let members of the Skywalker family step in and take over.

In the corner for Generation X we will have Darth Vader and in the corner for Millennials we will have Kylo Ren.

There is a clear difference to the way these Sith Lord's do business!

This is a joke, I hear you say. It actually isn’t so if you will stay with me I will do my utmost to make my points, but please feel free to disagree. First let’s get the crude name calling out of the way.

Kylo go...

Dark! Your turn Vader...

Now that we have done that let’s all agree that this is wholly untrue, stereotyping and borderline ageist nonsense. Not only is it untrue, it is promoting division, a “them versus us” attitude that is way too prevalent already in our current climate (see Brexit and Trump). This is an unhelpful attitude for the workplace and life in general. It leads to adverse team set ups and a “personality and culture” fit attitude does not reflect real life that doesn’t really “fit” anyone. All great teams should have a mixture of experience levels, personalities, cultures and backgrounds to balance a productive and engaged workforce. This will hopefully promote mentors, who can teach those less experienced and provide a succession plan.

Succession planning at it's best!

So, recently at GroupM we had the Harvard Business Review come and speak to us and the conclusion from all of their research: past Generations and Millennials are pretty much the same. So with this in mind, let’s look at our similarities:

Now obviously, Vader and Kylo do this in their own way, the same way that all people do things their own way. Why is this? Well that is easy to put your finger on. Simon Sinek speaks about the 4 points: Parenting, Tech, Impatience, Environment.

The one I want to explore here first is environment. Millennials and Generation X are both now living and working in the same environment and their behavior's are almost identical. If I go out with my friends (age range of between 24-29), we all have our phones constantly at hand. If I go out with my Aunties, Uncles or even my Parents, (age range anywhere from 35-60) they have their phone constantly at hand. We have all adapted to our environment and accepted that when we are out, in meetings, at events that it is now becoming more sociably acceptable to reach for our devices.

Tech is next and this is an easy one to address for me, as it is the same as above. The majority of people alive right now are using tech to entertain, amuse and distract themselves. To think this belongs to just the Millennials is quite a strange concept to me and this goes hand in hand with impatience. We now live in an environment where tech is on hand at every moment. Again, to me (remember above, humble opinion) everyone alive at this moment lives in the “NOW” Generation. We want to book our holiday instantaneously, have a car pick us up and drop us off with the click of a button, have news up to date at all times. Is this a bad thing? No. Let’s use the spare time to innovate, change and do things for the better to improve our lives.

Last one, parenting, I will grant you, Simon and everyone that parenting is now different. But I hope this continues. It used to be perfectly acceptable to physically reprimand a child. And I am not talking about a light slap on the outstretched hand or similar here. I believe the phrase was… “go get a switch”. My Nanny tells the story of how one of my Aunties came back from school with red welts at the back of her legs from the teacher hitting her with a ruler. My Auntie is only in her late 30’s! In this day and age we know that this behaviour is not acceptable. Also, each parent is totally different, as is each child. Are we close to perfecting parenting? Probably not, but I would rather my child got a participation medal over a ruler any day of the week.      

Now back to having fun:

Ok so Vader is basically like a space Jesus, born from the force to just a mother. He was raised as a slave but overcame the shackles of servitude, thanks to the help of Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan and was freed to study the Force. So easy to say that he did not have an easy childhood. During his training he felt that he was capable of more, constantly pushing the boundaries until this made the young Anakin the Vader we all love, adore and fear.

Now, little is known of Kylo’s youth (although I am sure Disney/Lucas will make this clear in upcoming movies) but I can imagine that Han and Leia, with help from Uncle Luke, would have been very supportive parents. Yet we know that both ended up on the Dark Side of the force. Nature V Nurture? They both led huge teams and climbed to the top of their field. Will they also both come back to the Light Side before their demise?

I will repeat what I said earlier “a mixture of experience levels” is key to successful teams. This is not in relation to age at all. I have set up internships in the past and I have had people looking to change careers apply for them as well as people looking for their first careers. I have been a very young Manager (19 in retail) and a relatively older trainee (22 in the Army and 27 in recruitment). In all my roles, I actively promote diverse teams. As the working world changes and more roles become obsolete or change as more people are willing to try new industries at different stages of their lives/careers, we should be opening the doors to all to ensure that the right talent is engaged.

Talent teams from all industries should promote diverse hiring to reflect the multicultural society that we live in. Only by hiring from our diverse backgrounds can we ensure that we continue to have ground breaking ideas and advancements. In Star Wars, a diverse team (a Wookie, 2 Jedi Masters, a Jedi in training, a “Scruffy looking Nerf-Herder", a Gambler, a Princess and two Robots, with the help of countless unnamed rebels) save the world from darkness.

So in closing, don’t forget that Bill Gates is 61 and Mark Zuckerberg is 32 years old. Would you hire a mind and experience like that for your team? So let’s use the force and change for the better and remember Master Yoda's words when you are trying to change the future.

*All opinions in this article are mine and they are based on my experiences and idealistic hope.

*Star Wars, Darth Vader and Kylo Ren are all trademarks of Disney and LucasFilm. I do not own them but if you have not seen Star Wars, please rectify that issue.